A week after an explosive photo of the Melania director Brett Ratner was released from the Epstein files, Amazon’s documentary on the First Lady has attracted three further dramas.
Military troops forced to watch Melania
Business Insider reports that according to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, numbers for the film have been artificially inflated by pressure from MAGA-aligned superiors strongly encouraging troops to buy tickets.
Mikey Weinstein, the president and founder of the MRFF, said they received reports from eight bases around the world that U.S. military members were being “pressured” to see Melania, in cinemas and special screenings.
“People are scared,” said Weinstein. “They were pressured to see the movie.”
“Your military superior, that’s not your shift manager at Taco Bell or Starbucks. They have complete and total control over you.”
According to Business Insider, “Nobody that I know wanted to go except for those that did not want to get jacked up by our unit commander for not attending,” a member told Weinstein.
When reached for comment, a Department of Defence official told Business Insider, “There is no Department of War directive requiring service members to see this film, though the film is fantastic.”
Rotten Tomatoes defends Melania rating
Mumbrella reports that movie review site Rotten Tomatoes has been forced to issue a statement explaining the discrepancy between the 8% critics rating of the film, and the 99% audience review aggregate – which has lead to questions about the results for the latter being manipulated.
“There has been NO manipulation on the audience reviews for the Melania documentary,” Rotten Tomatoes said.
“Reviews displayed on the Popcornmeter are VERIFIED reviews, meaning it has been verified that users have bought a ticket to the film through Fandango.”
In Australia, the film made $32,399 in its opening weekend.
Melania Trump speaks about her documentary. Image: X
Music ‘stolen’ from movie Phantom Thread
Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood and filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson have demanded that music from the movie Phantom Thread be removed from Melania.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, their statement read:
“It has come to our attention that a piece of music from Phantom Thread has been used in the Melania documentary.
“While Jonny Greenwood does not own the copyright in the score, Universal failed to consult Jonny on this third-party use, which is a breach of his composer agreement.
“As a result, Jonny and Paul Thomas Anderson have asked for it to be removed from the documentary.”
The Phantom Thread song in question is Barbara Rose, which Greenwood composed for the movie.